LARKANA, Nov 20: The Chandka Medical College Hospital management keeps patients in a portion of its city block ignoring the warning by the building department which had declared it hazardous in 1995.

The provincial building department in 1995 declared the buildings of Eye OPD, Main OPD, and the indoor blocks as hazardous, the hospital sources told this correspondent on Wednesday.

They said that the main OPD had been replaced when a new block had been constructed, while the construction of a new Eye OPD was in progress.

The indoor block of the Chandka Medical College Hospital had housed two surgical units, the ENT department, and some other wards, the sources said, and added that in the wake of the threat gradually both surgical units had been shifted to the Chandka Medical College Teaching Hospital.

The hospital sources said that presently this portion of the building, which had been declared hazardous, houses the ENT, psychiatry, and chest departments, where patients were still being admitted, and added that it was a permanent risk.

In the wake of this situation, the hospital administration had time and again approached the Sindh government for the early reconstruction of this block.

At one stage, it was decided to complete the task from the Khushaal Pakistan Programme (KPP) funds but later the plan was dropped.

The Sindh government finally gave approval annexing the reconstruction plan in the Annual Development Programme 2002-2003. But the delay in releasing the funds put the patients’lives at risk.

The ENT, psychiatry, and chest departments need to be shifted to the Chandka Medical College Teaching Hospital on an urgent basis to prevent a mishap.

PROTEST: A group of councillors from Union Council 9, Larkana city, held a protest demonstration on Tuesday against the crude attitude of the Taluka Nazim.